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NBA Fantasy: Dorell Wright, Monta Ellis, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade

Line of the Night: I think we can preemptively hand Dorell Wright (2.83) the breakout player of the year award for what he’s done over the first half of the season. Of course it helps when you play for the Warriors and get 48 minutes of run a game, which is what he did against the Lakers last night. The Warriors got torched by Kobe in the fourth quarter and ended up losing, but Wright was a rotisserie hero (best. sandwich. ever.) in the game, scoring 27 points off 5-11 from three, adding 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks.

Honorable Mentions:

Coming off two missed practices because of the flu, it’s a little surprising that Monta Ellis (1.63) played all 48 minutes for the Warriors as well. But you can’t argue with the results – Ellis scored 38 points and hit 4 threes in the game. The Lakers were led (both in fantasy and in the win) by Kobe Bryant (2.21) who decided it was go time in the last 6 minutes of the game and finished with 39 points, 6 boards and 3 steals. Phil Jackson then chastised Kobe after the game for taking it over and not playing team basketball.

Miami couldn’t get the win against the Clippers, but it wasn’t Dwyane Wade’s (2.30) fault as the man scored 31 points, with 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 blocks. Blake Griffin (0.96) had 24 and 14 in the win for the Clips .

And we can’t forget to mention another huge double-double by Zach Randolph (2.02), who scored 34 points with 17 rebounds against the Pistons. It was Randolph’s 25th double-double of the season.

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Waiver Wire Line of the Night: It seems like every team is now looking for a 6th man who can come off the bench and start throwing down points. The Raptors may have found theirs in Leandro Barbosa (1.96), who scored 26 points off the bench for Toronto against the Hawks, shooting 11-16 from the field and adding 3 steals. Barbosa has scored 15 or more points in five straight games and is getting consistent minutes off the bench. Add him if you’re team needs a boost in scoring.

One team’s trash is another team’s treasure and the Nets were happy to go dumpster diving in the Lakers trash for Sasha Vujacic (1.86). With Anthony Morrow injured since early December, Vujacic has gotten an opportunity to play big minutes off the bench. Yesterday he found his stroke, hitting 5-8 threes and scoring 19 points with 3 steals. He’s worth a look in deep leagues (especially if you need threes) while Morrow remains out.

Paul George (1.37) scored 16 points in 18 minutes off the bench for the Pacers. His minutes are too inconsistent to warrant a pickup right now, but keep an eye on him in case he works his way into a larger role in the coming weeks.

Ryan Anderson (1.34) has 14 points and 8 boards (with 4 threes) in only 21 minutes for the Magic. It’s going to be tough for him to carve out much more time than that behind Brandon Bass, but Anderson has put up solid fantasy lines in limited minutes in the past.

Biggest Loser:DeMarcus Cousins (-0.99) couldn’t handle Boston’s fearsome two headed monster known as Shaquille O’Neal and Semih Erden. Truthfully, his 8 points and 6 rebounds wasn’t THAT bad of a performance. It’s the 5 turnovers that drag his rating down for the day.